The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of apparatus for triggering a rapid individual firing at an automatic, rearwardly movable mounted firing weapon having a trigger rod by means of which the trigger of the firing weapon can be actuated by a handgrip or a handle.
Trigger devices for automatic firing weapons are already known to the art. In Swiss Pat. No. 419,907 there is described a trigger device which can be actuated by a handgrip through the agency of a trigger rod. The device especially serves the purpose, in the case of large firing weapons or guns to maintain the force for actuating the trigger so small that the weapon can be easily actuated with a finger. With this trigger device it is, however, only possible to trigger series or rapid firing at a large cadence, for instance 570 to 1000 rounds per minute or individual firing. When working in the individual firing mode the trigger must be actuated with the finger for each shot or round which is fired, and there can only be reached firing cadences of a maximum of one round per second. In Swiss Pat. No. 565,360 there is described a pneumatic device for firing an automatic firing weapon, by means of which there can be selectively triggered rapid or series firing, limited rapid or series firing, individual firing and rapid individual firing, and under the term series or rapid firing there is again to be understood a firing mode of large cadence, as mentioned between 570 to 1000 rounds per minute. As to limited series firing there is to be understood a timewise limited firing, that is to say, the firing operation is automatically interrupted in accordance with an adjustable time. In the case of individual firing the trigger must be actuated to fire each shot around and in the case of rapid individual firing there is to be understood a firing mode of appreciably smaller cadence, for instance 30 to 400 shots or rounds per minute, with the trigger having only to be actuated once. There are provided pneumatically adjustable elements, by means of which there can be adjusted this smaller cadence. The drawback of such pneumatic device resides, however, in the fact that there is required a compressed air container as well as a number of complicated pneumatic control devices, which become inoperative when the compressed air container is depleted.
In Swiss Pat. No. 569,249 there is described an apparatus for the selective triggering of rapid or series firing or rapid individual firing, which however are incorporated into the weapon itself. In the case of firing weapons which do not possess such apparatus, it is usually not possible for reasons of space considerations to subsequently incorporate such apparatus into the firing weapon. Additionally, there are not provided means for adjusting the cadence of the rapid individual firing.